And as always, check for bonecrusher86 on the eBays if I missed something. (To date, I have not.)

Anyway, From Dave Sim:

17 Feb 18

Hi Matt!

Since you were asking about Biblical commentaries, I thought I'd send this to you. It's part of my RIP KIRBY COMMENTARIES which hit a religious off-ramp requiring a lengthy digression (about a year or so now) into the "Song of Deborah" (Book of Judges) with the November 8, 1950 strip. Which then dovetailed with John's Gospel, which then dovetailed with my commentaries on Gertrude Stein's THE WORLD IS ROUND and BLOOD ON THE DINING ROOM FLOOR, finally circling back to John 19. So this is, really, the 17-page punch-line.

I can't imagine anyone would be interested, but you did ask about Bible Commentaries.

You could maybe run it a page a week on sequential Sundays. "T.L.:D.R."DAVE SIM (YAWN) ON JOHN 19!"

And God stopped it, dead in its tracks with
His own Big Bang. John's Revelation.

And He didn't stop it (although the theological whiplash the sudden
arrest in Christian progress it caused must have been fearsome to experience
and behold from the top of the Synoptic construct to the bottom) so much as redirect it and purify it,
addressing the "seven ecclesias" in what, I infer, are unmistakable,
irrefutable and irresistible terms directed to the highest natures concerned.

I'm convinced that the Revelation was and
is impenetrable to the human mind. You
can trace many of its allusions back through the Torah (Ezekiel and
Jeremiah particularly), the seven hills of Rome are readily identifiable, as
are each of the Roman Emperors referred to metaphorically. You can crunch the
numbers (24 older persons. Why 24? Ten diadems? Why 10?) according to any
numerological system you care to, you aren't, I don't think, going to get
anywhere. Because, I infer, it's all
of-a-piece. It includes YHWHism
and elements of Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, but, I infer, as
they actually exist. In a manner known only to the Self-Subsisting.

[Or existed. It's one of the conundrums of
Revelation that there's no way of knowing if what are being described are fixed
eschatological enactments which are inescapable or fluid eschatological
enactments which were/are changing form even as they were/are being
described. Like Ebenezer Scrooge's
question to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come:]

[Are these the shadows of things that
Will be, or are the shadows of things that May be, only? (note
capitalization)]

[The Ghost doesn't reply and Scrooge
elaborates:]

14 Feb 18 pg.2

[Men's courses will foreshadow certain
ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends
will change. Say it is thus with what you show me! ]

[John, like Ezekiel before him, doesn't
have Scrooge's fictional luxury of challenging or questioning what he's being
shown. Wishful thinking, I infer, on Charles Dickens' part that that was the
way things worked -- or could be made to work. We never doubt the
sincerity of Scrooge's repentance but the notion that higher-natured arbiters
could be petitioned to or pleaded with for (frankly) unmerited
clemency strikes me as a vainglorious self-generated YHWHistic literary conceit
masquerading as genuine monotheistic adherence.]

Which leads me, finally, to the point of
these commentaries that I didn't want to leave undone before reengaging with
"The Missing Nightingale" commentaries. On the one hand, what I have
to say can be regarded as peripheral to the Deborah narrative -- lacking
the direct application of the reiterated "mantle" in Judges and
John's Gospel -- on the other hand, what I have to say seems central speaking,
as I infer it does, to the essential nature of procreation and maternity.

John is an interesting and unique figure in
Scripture. I think he was simple. As we
would have said back in my day, seemingly mentally retarded. I'm not sure what the term is today "something-challenged". But I think that was only the appearance that
he conveyed. I think he was as much
"simple" in the sense of "not complicated" as he was in the
sense of "cognitively atrophied" and, in fact, far more the former
than the latter. Simple in the same
sense as (and metaphysically resonant with) the nature of the hydrogen
molecule. I think he was designed that
way by God.

The most noteworthy description of John in
Scripture, is the moment at the Johannine Jesus' Last Supper (unlike the very
brief Synoptic accounts, the Johannine Jesus' Last Supper takes up a full five
chapters: John 13-18) when he tells the disciples that "one out of you
will give beside me":

"Was lying upward one out of the
disciples of him in the bosom of the _____ (Jesus), whom was loving the _____
(Jesus); is nodding therefore to this Simon Peter and is saying to him Say who
it is about whom he is saying. Having
fallen upward that thus upon the breast of the ____ (Jesus) he is saying to him
Lord, who is it?"

This is not…normal…masculine
behaviour. Christians tend to steer far clear of discussing that fact, just
citing John as "the beloved disciple" and leaving it at that. If you
look at the angle of John's head in Leonardo's The Last Supper it seems
apparent that Leonardo tried to depict John "fallen upward…upon the breast
of the Jesus" and then couldn't do it. It just looked too weird. He had to move John over and just give his
head that unnatural tilt towards Jesus.
In our own degraded age, not unsurprisingly, gay connotations and
inferences are, inevitably, being drawn. I can certainly see that. And I
can't rule it out. But, I don't think it
was that. To reiterate, I think John was simple. In the same sense that the Johannine Jesus
was described by John the Baptist as "The Lamb of God", I think John
was "The Lamb's lamb". He
behaves like a lamb far more than he does like a human being and certainly far
more than he does like a man.

Thursday, 15 March 2018

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

We last saw Dave Sim's Notebook #3, which slides in between Albatross Too (notebook two) and Albatross Four (notebook 4) back in August of 2016, Notebook 2a, aka Albatross Three. It covers issues 37 to 40 and had 78 out of 80 pages scanned.

On page 48 is a map. A pretty detailed map of Iest with what appears to be electoral votes for prime minister. I left it double sized of what the pages are normally sized at - so you can zoom in and ready the small text.

Notebook 3, page 48 (click to make it much much larger)

"The Mystic Goat". Umm, wonder what that was about. I can see Grace District with the Good Abbey on the far side of Iest, right beside the Papal farm lands. I don't think "His Holiness' Province of Dorchester" made the final cut.

Wednesday, 14 March 2018

This week we'll be looking at some of the issues of CIH? coming out in 2019. These issues are comprised of ALL NEW material. No more @#$% reprints! It's some of Dave's funniest work yet. The phrase "I prefer the LATER funnier ones" is bound to become common in years to come.

Note: This is a tentative schedule. The final cover images will almost definitely look different from these.

January: Giant-Size Jingles

24 pages of ALL NEW Jingles strips!

February: Sim City

CIH? "does" Frank Miller!

March: Sim City:That Issue After

CIH? is done with Sin City parodies, but are Sin City parodies done with CIH?

April: Super-Cerebus Annual

The first double size issue of CIH? 48 pages! WOW!

May: Cerebus Woman

One of the funniest issues to date. Too bad you have to wait over a year to read it.

Welcome back to “Reading Cerebus”, a new (some-what) weekly column here at A Moment of Cerebus. The goal of this column is to bring a fresh perspective to the 300-issue saga of Cerebus as I read through the series for the first time and give my insights into the longest running independent comic book series of all time. Think of this as part book club, part lit-crit, and part pop culture musing. Oh, and they told me Dave Sim himself may be reading this, so I hope I don’t screw this up. Let’s continue.

Issue 12 - Beduin By Night

Issue 12- Beduin by Night

With The Cockroach in custody, and with it his fortune, Cerebus hits the taverns of lower Felda where he laments his latest losses.

You Can't Always Get What You WantThe story of Cerebus thus far really feels like a series of unfortunate events. Every time that it seems fortune is about to smile on The Earth-Pig Born, fate steps in with a hard slap and a "better luck next time son, I say son". With the introduction of The Cockroach last issue, nothing has changed.

Once again, Cerebus is tempted by fate after overhearing that the authorities found all of the gold in the well, but what about in the walls of The Cockroach's domicile? There may be hope yet! Well, there could be, or there could be a small amount of remaining gold and one adult size loony in a cockroach costume.

Keep Your Friends Close And Your Enemies CloserWith a giant cootie standing between Cerebus and the remaining treasure, there is only one thing to do: Kill two birds with one stone and turn two thorns in his side against each other. I say, now I say who could I be referring to? Well, our good pal Elrod of course.Cerebus convinces The Cockroach that Elrod is coming for his treasure and that it must be moved post haste. Everything with this plan would probably have worked out just fine, well until Elrod actually shows up.

"That's why everybody else is out there, and the Cockroach is in here" courtesy of CerebusDownloads.com

Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire

The bickering of the two boobs attracts the attention of the local authorities who take it upon themselves to attempt to arrest Cerebus, The Cockroach and Elrod, only to be put to sleep by Cerebus for all their troubles. The Cockroach is also knocked out, leaving only Elrod as the witness to Cerebus absconding with the gold.But wait, this is a Cerebus story after all, so the boat breaks and all the gold winds up in the river as a wet and angry Cerebus rides a shard of it down the current and out of town.

Final ThoughtsThis issue continues to play with the superhero tropes that Dave began parodying last issue. At one point, to gain The Cockroach's trust, Cerebus tells him that his parents were acrobats who were killed by the Red Claw Cult, a simplified origin of Robin The Boy Wonder.

The one thing that really stood out about this weeks issue to me was the art. Along with the use of zip-a-tone, it appears that ink wash was used liberally throughout giving the story a 1970's Marvel magazine look (think Howard The Duck or Marvel Premier). It really works well here to add a layer of murk to a story that takes place exclusively at night.

Join me back here next week as we look at Issue 13: "Black Magiking"

Currently Listening To: Grateful Dead - "Live In Concert" (It's some cheap bootleggy thing that claims to be a live show from South Dakota in 1980. Problem is, the Grateful Dead never once played South Dakota in their career. So...yeah...)

Kevin Kimmes is a lifelong comic book reader, sometime comic book artist, and recent Cerebus convert. He can be found slinging comics at the center of the Multiverse, aka House of Heroes in Oshkosh, WI.

Sunday, 11 March 2018

Since you were asking about Biblical commentaries, I thought I'd send this to you. It's part of my RIP KIRBY COMMENTARIES which hit a religious off-ramp requiring a lengthy digression (about a year or so now) into the "Song of Deborah" (Book of Judges) with the November 8, 1950 strip. Which then dovetailed with John's Gospel, which then dovetailed with my commentaries on Gertrude Stein's THE WORLD IS ROUND and BLOOD ON THE DINING ROOM FLOOR, finally circling back to John 19. So this is, really, the 17-page punch-line.

I can't imagine anyone would be interested, but you did ask about Bible Commentaries.

You could maybe run it a page a week on sequential Sundays. "T.L.:D.R."DAVE SIM (YAWN) ON JOHN 19!"

Unlike John himself, the Revelation
couldn't be ignored because it was obviously both eschatological and
Apocalyptic in its character. It was, arguably, the most eschatological
and Apocalyptic monotheistic revelation that would ever exist, way, way beyond John's
-- or anyone's (but particularly John's, again, I'm getting to this) --
personal capacity for invention. That is, it was literally unimaginable,
comparable and directly analogous to and resonant with the Book of Ezekiel, the
momentous capstone of the Major Prophets in Orthodox Judaism (particularly
noteworthy for the attribution of much of its text to Lord GOD as opposed to the YHWHistic LORD
God) while having its own unique character and definitive prophetic force. All of which, it seems self-evident, would
have been readily apparent to the -- presumably dumfounded -- Patmos Church
authorities charged with sheltering and sequestering John when he presented
them with it.

The fact of the Revelation couldn't
be explained away, certainly not by the authorities of a marginalized outlier
"boonies" church on Patmos.
All they could do was have their scribes make copies of Revelation and
deliver it -- as the document itself instructed them to do! -- to the
seven primary, larger, more potent and more influential Asian churches.

Which, I infer, made John's Revelation even
more theologically inescapable because -- although John, I assume, had no
direct knowledge or awareness of or, in fact interest, in what the "seven
ecclesias" were doing -- the denunciations were succinct and exactly
appropriate to the YHWHist corruptions that were setting in in the critical
first decades of Christianity. For the
churches, it would have been like getting a letter direct from God. For the very good reason that, I infer,
that's pretty much what it had been.

That is, it hadn't been coincidental, I
don't think, that John had lived to the (for the time) impossibly old age that
he had. That, I infer, had been God's plan all along: that John and his undying
fealty to the Johannine Jesus would endure several decades into the first
Christian century...

This requires, I think, a lengthy
digression to elaborate:

[The YHWHist structure of the first
Christian century, I infer, had been analogous to and patterned on the
"super-suns" created in the early millennia after the Big Bang. The
Great Unity, God, incarnates -- through the process of the Big Bang -- multiple
Proxy Immensities who then enact themselves as differently-nuanced
models of Reality, hurled outward by the Big Bang's centripetal and centrifugal
force. These seminal YHWHs -- each
misconstruing his/her/its self as God -- then expand and proliferate, procreate
and gestate outwards. They physically
incarnate as stars, galaxies, solar systems, planets, asteroids, etc. each,
like our planet, thinking themselves to be God. This is, I infer, God's Grand Comedia. All of them hatching out lifeforms
"formed of the dust of the ground" and then, (partly, I infer) in
tandem with them and (mostly, I infer) in opposition to them, strutting and
fretting he/she/it's hour upon the cosmological slapstick stage, repeatedly
delivering cosmological custard pies to his/her/its own faces over the course
of billions of years because that's what happens when you aren't God but
you pretend to be God.]

13 Feb 18 pg.4

[Fidelity, faith and endurance in God,
loyalty to God, I infer, being The Way Out and The Way Back to God]

[As the Big Bang's relationship to the
"super-suns" so -- I infer, in YHWHist frames of reference -- had
been the relationship of the Synoptic Jesus to his disciples, particularly
Peter. "Upon this rock I will found my church."]

[Set against this multi-faceted triune
metaphysical he/she/it tidal wave, I infer -- according to God's purpose
and according to God's plan -- was the
potency of faith and endurance in God's Johannine Jesus Christian
incarnation. Said incarnation now in the lone custody of and housed solely
within the person of a single individual: John.]

[A critical necessity, I infer, from God's perspective,
reinforcing the primary lesson of physically-incarnated life that abiding faith
in God will overcome and prevail over even the most insurmountable-seeming
adversary and adversity.]

[John was physically and irrefutably,
hurled outward to Patmos by (and on) the theological tidal wave of the Petrine
Church of the Synoptic Jesus. From the YHWHist perspective, theological
collateral damage and (happy coincidence!) the imminent elimination of what had
once been he/she/its primary rival and which appeared now to be a microscopic,
microcosmic guttering theological candle-flame soon-to-be extinguished.]

[The exponentially rapid expansion of
Christianity across the civilized world had been, I infer, directly analogous
to the centripetal and centrifugal outward expansion of the universe from the
Big Bang.]

[A foundational component of which and its
motivating force is, I infer, "If any of you are actually God, enact your
own Big Bang." The plain fact that
there has been no Big Bang since the Big Bang serving as a q.e.d that
there is only One God.]

[Metaphysically unprecedented in our
physically-incarnated world, Christianity's expansion would eventually dwarf
and then engulf its nearest competitor, the Roman Empire. But it was Petrine,
YHWHist, Synoptic. It was derived from monotheism but it was not, per se,
monotheistic. And, I infer, that was one
of its larger purposes: a YHWHistic enactment
co-engineered by God in such a way as to create a YHWHistic theological tidal
wave that was seemingly unstoppable. Certainly one that appeared to
be unstoppable from the perspective of any higher-natured entity
contemplating Christianity's first few decades of progress late in the first
century. The only comparable enactment/analogy would have been the Big Bang
(with which, I infer, all higher-natured beings are familiar although
interpreting it differently depending from which of the "super-suns"
they had issued). And that, I think, had been one of God's major theological
points behind Synoptic Christianity: it had been, according to all appearances,
structurally, unstoppable.]

I recorded an episode with Mr. Sim a couple of weeks ago for my Podcast called Not So Boring Conversations. Mr. Sim suggested that I let you know when the episode is posted he thought you may want to post it to your site.

Hi, Matt--Since Dave called a coupla days ago and updated me on the status of several projects, and informed me that, no, he wasn't mad at me, I thought another piece of fake news was in order. Thus:

DEEP TH...er...DEEP RIVER, ON: A Moment of Cerebus (AMOC) has learned from a highly-placed source *outside* of The Off-White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to not wanting to piss off the *only* highly-placed source *inside* The Off-White House, that there is no news on the Black Boxes. The current fund-raising auctions have first priority and then the Black Boxes will follow. Seeking juuust the right amount of glossy black overlay to the cardboard has, apparently, proven to be difficult.

The highly-placed source (and we stress) *outside* of The Off-White House, who (say it with me) spoke on the condition of anonymity due to not wanting to further piss off the *only* highly-placed source *inside* The Off-White House, went on to add that there is a new (gasp!) Secret Project in the works that will show up after the Black Box project.More, later. Back to you, Jane.

Regards,Jeff Seiler

So, there you go. More from our "anonymous" source. CRAP! It was supposed to be "anonymous". Forget I said it was from Jeff. (It'll be our *little* secret.)

Thursday, 8 March 2018

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

So you've might have heard about the storm that hit the northeast of the United States late last week? Yeah, that dang storm knocked out the power in my entire town. I just got power back late on Monday. On top of that, it is my department's annual review time, so work is super busy. And on top of that, the Boston Bruins just last night had home game #4 of 6 in 12 days (I can't really complain about being to go to every single Bruins home game). So yeah, I've been a bit. . .sidetracked from Cerebus.

Then I heard Dave mention reruns. Reruns you say? How about the first ever look at Dave Sim's notebooks that he used while writing and drawing Cerebus? From way back in June of 2016, here is the first ever Dave Sim's Notebooks column. I promise to be back next week with a new installment. Any ideas on what you'd like to see, just leave them in the comments.

* * *

Albatross One

"I began using notebooks to plot Cerebus beginning with issue 20. I called the notebook my 'albatross'since it was always with me, a constant reminder of work I had to do." ~ Dave Sim

A few years ago (10? 8? I can't remember for sure) I scanned all of Dave's notebooks in for the Cerebus Archive. My original intent was just to preserve Dave's notebooks, files, etc digitally for future generations.

There are 36 notebooks in total, which cover from issue #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints sometimes had prelim sketches, convention speeches were sometimes written out. A total of 3,281 pages were scanned -- plus covers, front & back, inside and out, so that brings the total to 3,425 scans. Oh, and there were 8 loose pages - so 3,433. 113 GB total of data.

At the time, the idea came up of putting it online as a resource. However, after scanning them all in, the project lost steam, as I couldn't easily get those files down to a reasonable size to put online -- I scanned them in at 600 dpi 24 bit color png files. Also the database work for such a program was beyond me.

I never really got the time to look at the notebooks in depth when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back as soon as possible -- having them in my possession made me nervous that something bad would happen to them. So this new weekly (?) column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some interesting pages which detail his thought process in creating the monthly Cerebus comic.

Notebook 4, page 86 (issues 59 to 69)

Some background for this page - Early in Church & State I Bishop Powers and Weisshaupt are jousting for supremacy in Iest, with the poor selection of Eastern Pontiffs, whom are being constantly being assassinated, Weisshaupt has control of the city-state. In the issue immediately preceding this one, Powers has a revelation and thinks he can nominate a new candidate for Pontiff. One of whom, even if he couldn't control, would be someone who would diminish Weisshaupt's hold on Iest.

Dave has a mock up of the first page - a full page spread - from issue #64. The actual page stayed pretty close to this sketch, but it didn't have the building facade with windows above it, just the archway. Though it did have a more detailed foreground, with Dave adding the walkway up to the arch.

The text beside it is the text that is on that first page, but some of it has been left off the actual page - Bishop Powers doesn't mention the Lion of Serrea - as this power struggle is to remain between the two foes. Nor does Powers state "I gather that you have objections." Instead he says "Why wouldn't I be?"

I think Dave changed it because it shows that Powers is leading Weisshaupt right into his trap to swing power in his direction. Powers calculated that Weisshaupt doesn't want Cerebus as Pontiff of the Eastern Church, and then Weisshaupt proves him right by coming over to see Powers in person to voice his dislike of the nomination. Powers thinks Weisshaupt would love to prove him wrong, so he gives him the opportunity to do that. Rather than state "I gather that you have objections" to which would show Power's hand to Weisshaupt, he leads him on.

So after Weisshaupt lists the reasons why Cerebus shouldn't be Pontiff, Powers moves his other chess piece. All of which happens on subsequent pages in the issue, but the start of the dialogue is shown on this notebook page - along with a preliminary sketch of page two.

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Welcome to the brand new Wednesday column: CEREBUS and HOBBS! I'd like to say a special thanks to everyone who contributed suggestions for the column's name. And an even BIGGER thanks to Travis Pelkie for suggesting the name that I actually went with. Thanks Travis!

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting an overview of the current status of CIH? At the moment, Dave Sim has written issues through mid 2019, and David Birdsong and myself are in the midst of lettering and compositing the early 2019 issues. (Dave Sim has a bit of a lead on us.)

This week we'll be looking at the 2018 releases. (Note, covers may not be final versions.)

By now everyone should have WATCHVARK and THE AMAZING CEREBUS in their hands.

Coming out this month is WORLD'S FINITE CEREBUS:

April will see the release of LOVE AND AARDVARKS, in May THE UNDATEABLE CEREBUS arrives and then in June, THE UN-BEDABLE VARK.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA CEREBI will be out in July, featuring 10 PAGES of ALL NEW content. NICK CALM, AGENT OF C.O.D.P.I.E.C.E. hits in August. September sees the release of CRISIS OF INFINITE CEREBI, which has OVER 10 pages of ALL NEW content.

Rounding out the year will be THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY CEREBI in October (OVER 10 pages of NEW content!). CERBERUS IN HELL? arrives in stores in November. In December the first issue of CIH? with ALL NEW content (that means no more @#$% reprints!) arrives... CANADIAN VARK!

What an exciting year ahead! And to keep track of all the amazing titles coming out, you can print out this checklist and hang it above your bed, so every night as you go to sleep you'll be thinking of all the Cerebus goodness headed your way.